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Cipher Pharmaceuticals announced it has appointed Lynne Bulger as vice president of medical and clinical affairs.Bulger, who has more than 27 years of experience in drug development in the pharmaceutical industry, will lead the company’s efforts in clinica ...

SAN DIEGO — Cocaine use may substantially increase the risk for stroke within 24 hours in young adults, according to findings presented at the International Stroke Conference. The risk for ischemic stroke associated with recent cocaine use is higher than t ...

Former deputy PM says energy suppliers have been encouraged by David Cameron's alleged promise to 'get rid of green crap' The UK's "big six" energy suppliers have made an unwarranted intervention into politics, John Prescott, ...

SAN FRANCISCO — The difference between “food addiction” and “food and addiction” will gain public policy significance as the prepared food industry gears up to fight a growing body of data indicating processed foods contribute to negative public health out ...

Campaigners say fares income will exceed operating costs by 2018, and call for increases to be calculated in line with CPI Rail fares are rising so quickly that the government will soon be making a profit from the commuting public, campaigners claimed as ...

Unseasonal hand grenade lobbed by Labour party should remind firms they will remain a focus of Westminster attention for some time yet The big six energy companies no doubt hoped a new year might bring some relief from the political spotlight that has bur ...

Big six firms deny inflating prices to make extra profits from their own plants or striking expensive deals to detriment of consumers Households may have paid £150 over the odds for their electricity over the past three years because energy companies boug ...

Labour MP Frank Field says figures show it is 'time to take the gloves off', with not enough progress in poorer areas More than 300,000 of Britain's poorest people live at least 1km from a free-to-use cash machine, raising questions about w ...

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The news articles accessible on the Health Well website have been compiled from various sources that are not controlled by the Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH). IPH is therefore not responsible for the content of external websites and the inclusion of a link to an external website from the Health Well should not be understood to be an endorsement of that website.

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The first phase of measures under the Public Health (Sunbeds) Act saw a ban on under-18s using sunbeds introduced last year. The second phase has taken effect today. Under the new regulations commercial sunbed ‘happy hours’, and ‘unlimited’ or ‘free’ use of sunbeds will be banned. Users will be required to wear protective eyewear and won’t be able to use sunbeds without supervision. New hygiene standards will be put in place. The new regulations will also require sunbed business owners to display warning signs, provide information on the risks, and ban health claims. Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in Ireland and is a particular problem for Irish people because of their fair skin.

New Irish research shows large gap in life expectancy in Ireland across different socio-economic groups

This research was carried out by the ESRI, TCD, and NUI Maynooth and was presented at the recent ESRI Conference, “Socio-Economic Inequalities in Mortality in Ireland Over Time and Place”. The research showed that while life expectancy increased in Ireland during the boom, this increase was not seen across all socio-economic groups, with a growing gap emerging. For example, whereas death rates among male professionals, managers and the self-employed decreased by 27% between the 1990s and 2000’s, those among male working class groups decreased by just 12%. The growing gap between social groups can largely be explained by changes in the pattern of deaths from external causes (accidents, poisonings, assault and suicide) and digestive causes (diseases of the liver, oesophagus etc). Among women deaths from cancer also contribute to a widening gap between social groups.

Today is National No Smoking Day and also sees the release of the Health Service Executive (HSE) ‘Smoking in Ireland 2014’ report. The reduction of 70,000 smokers in 2014 is the largest annual drop in smoking prevalence in Ireland since 2009. Furthermore, uptake of QUIT Team support services has doubled. Dave Molloy, National Tobacco Lead for the HSE commented; ‘this shows that the comprehensive range of tobacco control measures implemented in Ireland are working.’ Ireland has set a target of being effectively smoke-free – <5% prevalence – by 2025 as set out in the Tobacco Free Ireland policy. Current tobacco control measures include smoke-free workplace and point-of-sale legislation, with upcoming plans to introduce standardised packaging and protect children from second-hand smoke in cars.

New ban on sunbed ‘happy hours’ & ‘unlimited use offers’ to be introduced from March

Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in Ireland. Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has announced that commercial sunbed ‘happy hours’, and ‘unlimited’ or ‘free’ use of sunbeds, won’t be permitted from March 2nd in an effort to reduce skin cancer. Users will be required to wear protective eyewear and won’t be able to use sunbeds without supervision, in order to minimise damage to their skin and eyes. New hygiene standards will be put in place. The new regulations will also require sunbed business owners to display warning signs, provide information on the risks, and ban health claims. The new regulations comprise the second phase of measures under the Public Health (Sunbeds) Act with a ban on under-18s using sunbeds introduced last year.

New research reveals big gap in physical health between rich and poor young people in Ireland

The research was led by Prof Frank Elgar of McGill University in Canada, and published in the Lancet. It looked at socioeconomic inequalities in adolescent health from 2002–2010 in 34 countries that were participating in the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study. Findings revealed that Ireland is relatively unequal in terms of inequalities in body mass, physical activity and life satisfaction between the most and least affluent youths. However, young Irish people from poor backgrounds were found to be at little or no disadvantage to their wealthier peers regarding the area of mental health. The researchers concluded that ‘widening gaps in adolescent health could predict future inequalities in adult health and need urgent policy action’.

Smoking in cars that are carrying children will be banned in England from October

More than 400,000 children are exposed to second-hand smoke in their family car every week in England, according to the British Lung Foundation, which puts them at risk of serious conditions, including respiratory infections, meningitis and triggering asthma. Secondhand smoke is particularly harmful to children as they breathe more rapidly and have less developed airways. These new laws will makes it illegal to smoke in private vehicles carrying under 18s in England, and those caught doing so may face a £50 fixed penalty notice. Public Health England (PHE) yesterday launched its campaign to highlight the hidden dangers that secondhand smoke in homes and cars can cause to children’s health.

The Public Health Annual Scientific Conference takes place on Wednesday 10th June 2015 at Riddel Hall, Belfast. The theme of the Conference will be 'Making Life Better – Improving health and care for adults'. It will focus on how public health innovations, research and practice are meeting the needs of our adult population between the ages of 18-64 years.

In order to ensure a broad spectrum of content for the Conference, presenters are invited to consider five of the themes within the new Public Health Strategy, Making Life Better as they relate to all aspects of health and care for adults. The five relevant themes are:

Equipped throughout life

Empowering healthy living

Creating the conditions

Empowering communities

Developing collaboration

Presenters are invited to submit an abstract describing a current or recently completed evidence-based public health initiative/intervention/innovation and/or high quality research study in Northern Ireland relevant to the conference theme. Please note the closing date for submission of abstracts has been extended to 16.00 on Wednesday 11th March 2015.

This month’s newsletter contains an update on the Northern Ireland strategic framework on obesity and overweight ‘A Fitter Future for All 2012-2022, outlining some of the findings of the two year progress report published in December 2014. This showed that good progress has been made however there has yet to be significant statistical change in the levels of overweight and obesity. The Obesity Prevention Steering Group is currently reviewing and updating the existing outcomes within the framework to take forward action from 2015-2019 and it is expected that these will be published online in the spring of 2015. The newsletter also contains details of some upcoming obesity related events, and some latest reports and research articles.

DRIVERS (2012-2014) is a three-year research project funded by the 7th Framework Programme, co-ordinated by EuroHealthNet in co-operation with expert research institutions, and networks of businesses and advocacy organisations. It aims to understand and promote health equity through policy and practice on three of the most important drivers of health; early childhood, employment & working conditions, and income & social protection. DRIVERS has identified four principles in its recommendations report to guide the development and implementation of policies to improve health and reduce health inequalities as follows: